1st Edition

Whiteucation Privilege, Power, and Prejudice in School and Society

Edited By Jeffrey S. Brooks, George Theoharis Copyright 2019
    208 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    208 Pages 6 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This important volume explores how racism operates in schools and society, while also unpacking larger patterns of racist ideology and white privilege as it manifests across various levels of schooling. A diverse set of contributors analyze particular contexts of white privilege, providing key research findings, connections to policy, and exemplars of schools and universities that are overcoming these challenges. Whiteucation provides a multi-level and holistic perspective on how inequitable power dynamics and prejudice exist in schools, ultimately encouraging reflection, dialogue, and inquiry in spaces where white privilege needs to be questioned, interrogated, and dismantled.

    Contents

    Foreword - Sonya Douglass Horsford

    Preface - What is Whiteucation? An Introduction and Overview

    Acknowledgments

    Chapter 1: "If Everyone Would Just Act White": Education as a Global Investment in Whiteness, Christopher B. Knaus

    Chapter 2: "White Privilege and American Society: The State, White Opportunity Hoarding, and Inequality," Megan R. Underhill, David L. Brunsma & W. Carson Byrd

    Chapter 3: The Unbearable Whiteness of Educational Leadership: An Historical Perspective on Racism in the American Principal’s Office, Jeffrey S. Brooks

    Chapter 4: White Privilege and Educational Leadership, George Theoharis

    Chapter 5: Black and White Women’s Leadership: Disadvantage and Privilege, Victoria Showunmi

    Chapter 6: Transcending Barriers in the Superintendency: The Resiliency Leadership Discourse of African American Women, Francemise Kingsberry & Gaëtane Jean-Marie

    Chapter 7: Whiteness as Policy: Reconstructing Racial Privilege through School Choice, Sarah Diem & Andrea M. Hawkman

    Chapter 8: Black Girls, White Privilege, and Schooling, Terri N. Watson

    Chapter 9: "A Photo-Testimonio: Educational Expectations for Resiliencies of First-Generation Latina STEM College Students", Lindsay Romasanta & Daniel D. Liou

    Chapter 10: "Asians in the Library": Sophistry and the Conflation of Affirmative and Negative Action, Nicholas D. Hartlep & Nicholas C. Ozment

    Chapter 11: Myths Around the Recruitment of Faculty of Color in the Academy, Marybeth Gasman

    About the authors

    Biography

    Jeffrey S. Brooks is Associate Dean for Research and Innovation and Professor of Education at RMIT University, Australia.

    George Theoharis is Professor of Teaching and Leadership at Syracuse University, USA.

    "Brooks and Theoharis have done it again! At a time when America struggles deeply to keep the American dream alive, along comes a powerful compilation of essays by diverse scholars who share a common message of hope and optimism for education. Tackling issues such as white privileges, oppression, power structures, and prejudice, this book is a must read for all who have a vested interest in the necessary role of strong educational leadership as a beacon of light and optimism in a landscape of uncertainty and unpredictability." 
    —Anthony H. Normore, Professor of Educational Leadership, California State University-Dominguez Hills

    "Brooks and Theoharis dare to explore rarely charted educational space with this work on ‘Whiteucation’. This book signifies that in many ways whiteness and education are synonymous. In order to address such a controversial topic, the editors and contributors must be insightful, truthful, daring, and caring. They deliver on all of these attributes and more in this most meaningful book."
    —Floyd D. Beachum, Program Director for Educational Leadership and Bennett Associate Professor of Urban School Leadership, Lehigh University

    "Whiteucation provides educators with a critical and much-needed understanding of how white racism and privilege manifest, function, and is perpetuated in schools. Building on existing and new research, the authors shed important light on the ways that whiteness is upheld in schools through assumptions, curriculum, policies, and many taken-for-granted practices. This is a must-read book for anyone committed to anti-racism and racial equity in education." 
    —Terrance L. Green, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of Texas at Austin 

    "Educators, parents, and community members need to open Whiteucation to any chapter with a heart open to be moved. Readers will take away more than merely new vocabulary to talk about race and privilege in schools. They will gain clarity to transform talk into action addressing the root causes of systemic inequity. A much-needed guide that will enable difficult but needed conversations everywhere!"
    —Leslie Hazle Bussey, Executive Director, Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement

    "Timely, direct, and sharply focused, Whiteucation brings together highly regarded education scholars to deepen the field’s understanding of how and why white privilege produces and sustains educational inequities. More importantly, its authors offer insights into what must be done to dismantle white privilege and what’s at stake if we fail to do so. This book is essential reading for scholars and practitioners committed to achieving racial equity in schools."
    —Decoteau J. Irby, Assistant Professor of Educational Policy Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago - College of Education

    "Indeed white supremacy remains one of the primary barriers to equitable education in the U. S. This collection of work will not only help educators promote anti-racist and anti-oppressive education, but it also lays the groundwork for all other types of oppression to be identified and contested in schooling. This work promises to be invaluable for educators and school leaders."
    —Muhammad Khalifa, Associate Professor of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development, University of Minnesota